Love is a scary thing
by SupernaturalShipper12
Summary: After Castiel and his mom Evelyn, move to a new town to get away from another school of bullying. They come across a few people who make their lives better within their first couple of days. Castiel could never be happier... but his happiness comes crashing down around him when someone starts leaving gifts at his door... Add that to the bodies appearing around town, he's frightened
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _"No please! I won't try to run again! Please I won't disobey!" The smile that crept onto his face was one only a demon would be able to make. He cocked his head slightly and reached out towards the cheerleader reveling in the way her face contorted up in fear as she tried to flinch away. He chuckled lowly and gently ran his fingers through her hair one last time. He sighed at the softness and shook his head sadly, knowing that this would be the last time he'd ever get to hear her scream. The last time he'd ever get to see her cry. The last time he'd hear her beg, and the last time he'd be able to look into those big beautiful green eyes before the life left them._

"Castiel Novak! You get your butt out of bed before I march in there and drag you out. You're going to be late!" Castiel groaned and turned around in bed before sitting up. He knew his mother would barge in any second if she didn't hear him getting up.

"I'm up, I'm up..." He yawned and sluggishly threw clothes on before heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth. By the time he was finished he knew he only had 25 minutes before school started and he would be officially late to his new school. He dragged himself into the kitchen and looked up through his lashes at his mother and frowned.

"Do I really have to go today? It's a Friday... Let me stay home and help unpack please mom..." Castiel watched as his mother gave him a soft sympathetic smile and brushed his hair back out of his face.

"You know I would love your help, but I don't need a genius right now, the school does." Castiel pouted and sighed dejectedly before nodding.

Evelyn smiled at the crestfallen look on her son's face before straightening up and running her fingers through his hair, "Tell you what..." She patiently waited until she knew she had her son's attention before continuing. "Go to school, try and make some new friends and afterwards when you come home, you and I will drive down and check out that frozen yogurt place. How's that sound?"

She watched as her son, who was as brilliant as her, contemplated over her words before his shoulders dropped hesitantly.

"Mom...what if I let you down? What if I can't make any new friends...You know how hard that is for me...everyone is so intimidated by the 14-year old high school senior that they turn to bullying..."

Castiel bit his lip softly and shivered at the thought of being thrown into another locker or returning home with a bloody nose and torn clothes to see his mother's disappointed face. He was surprised when he looked up and was met with a soft smile and watched as she winked and gave him a hug.

"You could never, in the entire universe, find a way to disappoint me. I just want you to try, besides I have a feeling you'll make some great friends here. A mother knows these things, so just try, can you do that for me?"

Castiel nodded and stood on tip toes to give his mother a soft peck on the cheek before turning and pulling his satchel off of one of the unpacked boxes. "Yeah... I can try but only because you asked me to...not because I want to." He made sure to mumble the last part of his sentence and hid a small smile when his mother didn't acknowledge it.

"Good, that's all I ask. Now get going you only have 15 minutes before the bell rings and you still need to pick up your schedule at the office. Do you remember how to get there?" Evelyn gave a soft laugh at the sight of her child rolling his eyes and mumbling about his eidetic memory.

Castiel spared his mother one last glance before waving and pushing the screen door open, he slowly made his way to the sidewalk where he glanced both ways watching as a few stragglers started speed walking in the direction of the school. With a sigh, Castiel clutched tighter to his book bag and walked down the road he knew he'd have to get used to seeing. By the time Castiel reached the school he only had a little over three minutes left before the first bell rang. He quickly made his way to the administration office where he was met with a mean looking lady.

He was surprised at the bright smile that instantly lit her face as their eyes met, "Well good morning there little guy, did you get lost?" Castiel pouted a bit and bit his lip as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He knew he was smaller than the average 14-year-old but he also knew he'd shoot up in a couple of years.

"Um...no ma'am, I um...M-my name is..." Castiel sighed and cleared his throat softly before pushing his hair back from his face, squaring his shoulders, and finally meeting the lady's eyes.

"My name is Castiel Novak, I'm here for my schedule...I was enrolled here yesterday but I'm starting today..." He shifted nervously before letting out the breath he'd been holding while he saw the secretary's face light up in recognition.

"Of course! You're the new genius here, I remember your mother coming in yesterday. She spoke quite fondly of you! Here why don't you come with me to meet your principal and get your schedule." He nodded slowly before walking around the desk to follow after the secretary who was knocking on a blue door. Castiel reached the lady just as the door swung open.

"Good morning Bethany, did you need something?" Castiel looked up to the lady who opened the door just as she motioned them both in and made her way back behind her desk.

"Actually, I'm just here to bring you the new student." Castiel gave a small timid smile to the principal who smiled brightly and extended her hand towards him.

"You must be Castiel Novak; I've been excited to meet you since I overheard your mother yesterday." Castiel bit his lip and fidgeted nervously.

"I...um sorry...I don't mean to seem rude...I just have this thing about touching others... but it's a pleasure to meet you." Castiel gave a small smile and cringed inwardly at the principal's nasally voice as she spoke.

"Of course, of course completely understandable. Well, I would love to continue this conversation however that's the bell and I wouldn't want you winding up even later to class. Here are your classes, we run on an A-day and B-day schedule. Today is an A-day so you will be attending classes 1, 3, and 5 today. Each class is a two-hour class with a 10-minute break after the first one and a 45-minute lunch break after your second one. I will have one of our student office aides show you to your first class." Castiel nodded as he listened attentively while mentally groaning at the length of each class.

"Jason, can you come here for a second." Castiel turned and came face to chest with a taller male who was wearing an AC/DC t-shirt. He slowly met the brightest eyes he'd ever seen and a pearly white smile. He snapped out of his short daydream of said boy, as the principal continued talking. "This is Castiel Novak, I'd like you to show him to his first class and on the way point out a couple of buildings you think he might need to know."

"Yes ma'am, morning Castiel, I'm Jason. Why don't we get going?" Jason quickly spun on his heel and walked down the hall to a door as Castiel thanked the principal for his schedule and ran after the taller boy.

"So who is your first teacher?" Castiel looked down at the small square paper in his hand and groaned.

"Mr. Allen for journalism..." Jason looked over at the short male and raised an eyebrow.

"I know you're new but you shouldn't act that way...Mr. Allen is a great guy, he's an amazing teacher..." Castiel quickly met the other boys' eyes and shook his head.

"No it's not that, it's the class...I um... I don't usually take classes that require me to socialize with others..." Castiel scanned over his schedule again as they walked down a path lined with palm trees and followed along in silence as they made a right turn to pass a couple of buildings.

"Oh okay, well... you'll get used to it eventually, that's the library and the building next to it is the asb building. Hey how old are you anyways?" Jason led them down another path and passed a building with many doors and numbers on them. "This is the place you'll be spending most of your time, the social studies and government classes are the ones you see in front of you, and if you keep going straight you'll see the building that holds all the English classes." Castiel nodded and followed along as Jason went in the opposite direction.

"I'm um... I'm 14...What's that building?" Jason looked over to see where Castiel was pointing.

"Oh that building far off over there is where the art classes are, and the buildings to our left are where the foreign language classes are. Come on, your class is right up ahead." Jason glanced down at the younger boy but made no comment about his age and led him to a small building next to the parking lot.

"This is where the journalism and ASL and EDL classes are held. Come on, this is Allen's class." Castiel gulped loudly, causing Jason to chuckle softly as he knocked on the classroom door and pulled the door open.

"Morning Allen! Hate to interrupt but I brought you the new student...bit on the quiet and shy side but here he is. Got to run, Have fun Castiel!" Jason waved and pushed Castiel into the room before closing the door and walking back towards the office. Castiel bit his lip and flushed brightly at the number of stares that were on him.

"Good morning Castiel, I was just telling everyone about you. I'm sure you'll be a great asset to our class. Why don't you come up here and introduce yourself, I'm Mr. Allen your journalism and homeroom teacher." Castiel looked up and focused solely on his teacher and he slowly made his way to the front of the class willing himself to ignore the 20 or so pairs of eyes on him.

"Dude, you're puny!" Castiel flushed brighter as he reached the front of the class and heard the rest of the students giggle at their classmate's outburst.

"Enough Crowley, let the boy speak." Castiel looked up at the teacher who was standing next to him and gulped at how tall he was, it was slightly unnerving and intimidating.

He cleared his throat softly and forced himself to look over at the class. "I'm Castiel Novak...I uh...I just moved here from Kansas... and before that Las Vegas... and before that um Ohio...we uh we moved around a lot..." Castiel looked down at his hands clenching onto the strap of his bag and wished this introduction was over already. He mentally groaned when his teacher asked if anyone had any questions for him.

"I do, so Castiel right? How old are you? Your kind of a midget..." Castiel looked up and locked eyes with Crowley again as he answered.

"I'm um... I'm 14 years old... I uh... I have an IQ of 187 and I also have an eidetic memory which has helped me get to my senior year fairly quickly and easily... I would have been here earlier but my mother decided to wait a couple of years…" Castiel cringed slightly and took half a step back at the sneer on Crowley's face and flinched slightly when he snorted out a laugh.

"Jesus, not only do you dress and look like a fucking nerd but you actually are. Freak." Castiel felt his cheeks blazing as his gaze fell back down to his hands and wished his hair was long enough to cover his watery eyes.

"Crowley that is enough! Not another word." Crowley rolled his eyes and crossed his arms and was about to open his mouth just as the door opened and someone breezed in.

"Sorry Allen! I didn't hear my alarm go off, I got here as fast as I could." Castiel felt a small jolt and shivered slightly as it traveled down his spine.

"Nice of you to join us Dean, take a seat we were just getting to know our new student." Mr. Allen gave a small smile to his student as he made his way to his desk and looked down at the boy next to him who was now watching said student intensely.

"Sweet, new guy, is that him?" Castiel nodded slightly as he met bright green eyes hinted with humor and kindness.

"Hi...I uh...Nov-stiel...Uh I mean... Cas-ak..." Castiel flushed brightly as the tall male quirked an eyebrow and smiled kindly as he sat down.

"Well uhh...Novstiel it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Castiel... It's uh Castiel Novak, I was going to say Novak but then I ended up changing my mind because it was my last name and I didn't think you needed it so I was going to go and say my first name and it somehow came out as Novstiel... I was then going to fix it and for some reason I figured since I started with my last name the first time I might as well finish telling you it and then I somehow managed Casak... Which is quite-"

"Cas, you're rambling buddy." Dean smiled widely amused and Castiel flushed and returned the smile with one of his own nervously.

"Gay" Crowley fake coughed loudly as the rest of the class erupted once again into giggles. Dean and Castiel both looked down too embarrassed to make any comment.

"Alright, that's enough settle down everyone. Castiel why don't you go take a seat, unfortunately the only one available is next to Crowley..." Castiel watched as his teacher looked down at his seating chart and frowned.

"HELL NO! I am not sitting next to some freaky faggot! He might try to hit on me!" Dean tore his eyes away from his desk in time to see Castiel's watery eyes before the small boy looked down at the ground.

"Crowley shut your fucking trap before I go over there and shut it for you. I swear to God if the next thing that comes out of your mouth is anything but air I will personally send your ass to the hospital. Leave the poor kid alone and stop being an ass. And another thing if it was you and the last girl in the world she would rather die lonely then ever flirt with your ugly mug. So I know without a doubt, Cas over there wouldn't flirt with you either." Dean growled menacingly as the other boy shrank back into his seat and looked up to his teacher.

"Mr. Allen, why don't you switch mine and Crowley's seats that way I can gladly sit next to Cas." Castiel looked up quickly and met his classmates' eyes and kind smile before smiling brightly as well and turned hopeful eyes up to his teacher who nodded and made the seat arrangements.

"Crowley, this is for you. Gather your things and come up here to get this slip." The class watched as the moody teenager grumbled the whole way up to the teacher and grabbed the slip before reading it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Castiel flinched at the boy's angry tone and took a step back as he quickly marched over to him.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Castiel squeaked as Crowley grabbed a handful of the front of his vest and yanked him forward as he growled softly.

"Oh you are so lucky you're not alone...this is all your fault and you will pay Castiel Novak...this isn't over...watch your back you freak..."

"Crowley that is enough! You release that young man this instant and go see the principal. The security guard is waiting outside for you, now go!" Castiel glanced back towards the door where sure enough another of his classmates was waving down the school's security guard.

Castiel shut his eyes tightly as he felt Crowley's hold tighten and heard rapid footsteps heading towards them from Dean's direction before he felt himself being shoved into the ground.

"Watch your back Freak." Castiel felt his body trembling slightly as he slowly opened his eyes to see Dean's back in front of him as he stood between himself and Crowley.

"You get the hell out of here on your own two legs or I send you out in a fucking stretcher. Don't you ever lay another finger on him." Castiel flushed brightly as he admired the way Dean's muscles flexed underneath his tight shirt. He looked slightly to the left and noticed the security guard approaching them quickly to presumably drag Crowley away.

Castiel quickly let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and looked up in time to see Dean reach a hand out to help him up. Castiel didn't even hesitate as he quickly took the offered hand and felt himself be yanked up. He stumbled a bit and fell into his classmates' arms and heard a chorus of girls cooing about how cute the two of them looked. His blush darkened to an even deeper shade and heard the rumble of Dean's chuckle. He was surprised to feel himself chuckle softly along with his taller classmate.

Castiel pulled away and smiled up at Dean, "Thank you...for all of that..."

Dean grinned widely and shrugged, " Don't mention it. I have a feeling we're going to make great friends." Castiel watched as Dean extended his hand. This time Castiel hesitated a small bit before quickly taking his hand.

"Let's start over, Dean Winchester. It's a pleasure to meet you Castiel. Would you like to be my friend? Maybe hang out with me and stuff? Wow that sounded way more childish than I expected it to." Castiel was sure he saw Dean's face flush before he schooled his features back to normal.

Castiel smiled and nodded while stifling a sudden urge to giggle like a schoolgirl, "Castiel Novak. Thank you, I'd like that very much."

"Wonderful, now if you two are finished, I'd very much like to get some actual teaching done." Castiel and Dean turned to meet the amused smile of their teacher before hastily making their way to their seats.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _"Castiel Novak... Genius with an IQ of 187, hoping to graduate senior year at the age of 14... Will he scream like the others? Will he beg? Only one way to find out... I'll see you soon Castiel, you will be so fun to play with..."_

Dean smiled once more at the short genius sitting next to him. Over half of the class had already passed. Castiel glanced over to his right and gave Dean another smile and looked back down at the paper in front of him. According to what Dean had mentioned when he leaned over earlier, it was their end of the year project. He was a little confused at why he was given this paper so early so he gestured for Dean to lean a little closer.

"Hey quick question, why'd he hand this out now? Don't we have over half a year left?" Castiel asked in a hushed whisper.

Dean nodded and opened his mouth to speak. "Perhaps Dean would like to explain to us all about your next project due at the end of the month." Castiel and Dean looked up and smiled sheepishly at their teacher who was now standing in front of both of their desks.

"Um... I honestly...Sorry Mr. Allen... I wasn't paying attention. It won't happen again." Dean sent a playful glare Castiel's way as their teacher nodded once and moved back to the front of the class.

"It better not happen again Mr. Winchester or I will keep you and Mr. Novak after class to scrape the gum off of the bottom of your desks. Now please, pay attention." After receiving twin nods their teacher continued on with his explanation.

"As I was saying, your projects are due by the end of the month. You are all to choose something that interests you and create a column for the school newspaper. Now just because you're creating it does not mean it will end up in the paper. You are to create it as though it will and I will be the one to choose which columns are put in. You can do this alone, or you can work with a partner. If you want to, I will also accept groups of 3-4 people no more than that. Whoever's column I choose will receive extra credit towards their next exam as well as two tickets to the movies." Castiel startled in his seat a bit at the loudness in which the rest of his classmates erupted in cheers and excited chatter. Dean was the loudest of them all and Castiel found himself smiling widely in his direction before laughing softly to himself at the way his teacher started yelling in order to be heard.

"Alright you guys! Remember, it's due at the end of the month if you have any questions stay after class for a bit or contact me by email! Have a great rest of the day and weekend, I'll see you all on Tuesday!" Castiel looked up at the clock confused and noticed they still had 20 minutes before the bell rang. He glanced around and noticed the majority of his classmates had already packed up and were heading out the door.

"Hey man, you planning on sitting there for the next 20 minutes or you coming along?" Dean watched as his new friend looked around confusedly before meeting his eyes.

"Where are we going?" Dean pointed out the door and took a step towards it.

"Oh right, well in Allen's class we usually always get out early so we can go cover some stories or work on our columns in the library or just go and help out the staff in the cafeteria set up for break. Come on, I can give you a tour of the rest of the school." Castiel slowly stood up and grabbed his bag before remembering what he was going to ask Dean earlier.

"Oh yeah, so how come we get the paper talking about the end of the year project so early... don't we usually get those at...I don't know, the end of the year?" Dean smiled and led the short genius to the door and held it open for him before answering.

"Well, most schools do that but here the staff want us to have more than enough time to complete our projects. Allen always makes sure to give us our assignments early so we have enough time to ask questions and make sure we're doing everything right." Castiel nodded in understanding and moved from in front of the door so that he wouldn't get hit by it, and glanced around. He saw the foreign language classes to his left and could barely make out a pool and field to his right.

"So anyways the small building in front of you is the girls' locker room, past that open fence you can clearly see the pool. Come on" Castiel followed closely behind Dean towards the open gates and noticed another two buildings. One was huge and the second one was right next to the girl's locker room.

"So that small building is the weight room, usually the weight lifting class, and football players are in there. The huge building in front of you is the main gym and you can't see it from here but right there by the weight room is a small walkway that leads to the mini gym. It's where two of the p.e. classes meet to play volleyball or basketball away from the other 4 or 5 that are in the main gym or out on the field. Oh and the boys' locker room is to the right of the main gym." Castiel nodded and made sure he was extremely attentive as Winchester kept talking and leading him back the way they came from.

"This building is the one where the electronics, woodshop, and mechanic classes take place. That door at the end of the building is open during every break because it's the student store. The huge building we're about to pass is the music and theatre building. If you look right, over there past palm lane, that is the math building and in front of that is the science building. You've already seen where the offices are and you've walked down palm lane so you should be fine but if you need help let me know."

Castiel smiled and nodded, "What's palm lane and which building is the one we're heading to right now?"

"Palm lane is that strip of walkway you went down earlier to get to class, that is surrounded by palm trees. It leads towards the back of the school where some of the old classrooms used to be held but with the amount of students that transferred to the new school we don't have any use for them anymore. The building we're heading towards my pretty little genius, is the cafeteria. I don't know about you, but I am starving. Come on my aunt works there." Castiel laughed softly and surprised himself when instead of moving away from Dean's arm over his shoulders he instead moved closer.

Dean seemed to sense this as well and smiled down at the kid before wrapping his arm tighter around the younger boy.

"FEED ME! I'm dying of hunger!" Dean exaggerated as they walked through the double doors and came face to face with a gorgeous young lady who Castiel figured would be Dean's aunt.

"Dean Winchester you quit that complaining and lower your voice. Do you realize how much trouble I would be in if word got out to my boss that I sneak you and your friends' food before your breaks?!" Dean groaned and shrugged before looking down amusedly at his new friend as he started talking.

"Dean...Technically it's not possible for you to die from hunger in just the small walk from class to here... there are tests that show the human body can survive anywhere from 30-40 days without food as long as they're hydrated... while I'm on this topic did you know we would only be able to survive a week to ten days without water before we die of dehydration."

Castiel flushed brightly at the amused stares being directed his way and cleared his throat nervously while fidgeting.

"Well isn't he just precious." Dean laughed at his aunts' words before rolling his eyes and heading into the cafeteria's kitchen.

"My nephew seems to have forgotten his manners, I'm Ellen Harvelle. Dean's aunt not blood related but, I helped his momma raise him and his brother so they see me as their aunt." He watched as she shot a glare at Dean's retreating back before turning a bright smile his way.

"Castiel Novak... I uh...I'm new here and he was showing me around. Before you ask I'm um... I'm 14 years old and in my senior year." He found himself smiling brightly at the soft giggle that escaped the lady.

"Well, Castiel, what do you say about getting some food in you. Come on sweetheart, you can help me keep my nephew out of the food until break." Ellen noticed how tense the young boy seemed at contact and instead led the way to the kitchen where they were met with the sight of Dean sitting on the counter with an open bag of chips next to him.

"Boy have some common sense and manners! Get your butt off of that counter, we prepare food there!" Castiel found himself trying to contain his laughter at his classmate's surprise and pout.

"Yes ma'am. Oh Ellen, mom wanted to know if you were still going to be coming over this weekend for our monthly barbecue." Dean asked as he jumped off of the counter and dodged a dish rag being thrown his way.

"For the millionth time yes Dean. When have I ever missed out? And before you ask, yes I will make you my potato salad." Castiel watched as his classmate, and at this point only friend, smiled and gave Ellen a kiss on the cheek.

"God, you are an angel. Thanks, hey listen we'll see you later we're going to head out to get a table before the bell rings and every single one is filled." Dean smiled and motioned for his new friend to follow him as they made their way outside. He smiled when they reached a table and put their things down just as the bell rang. Castiel looked around and watched as students filed out happily from their classes and found their friends. Just as he turned back to ask Dean where his next class was he heard a shout from behind him.

"Winchester! Sweet you got a table!" Castiel turned to see two teenagers walking towards them while waving.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet Castiel Novak, he's new he-"

"I know you! Well I don't know you but I overheard the principal talking about you. I'm Joanna Harvelle but my friends call me Jo. It's nice to put a face to the name." Castiel looked up to see the short blonde setting her things down and taking a seat on the bench next to him.

"It's...nice to meet you Joanna."

"Oh no, it's Jo."

"But you just said..."

"I know what I said Castiel, but you are friends with Dean so that makes you my friend by default, so it's Jo to you." Castiel looked over to see Dean smiling at him before hesitatingly turning and nodding to Jo.

"Great, this is Benny Lafitte, but he just goes by Benny so remember that." Benny gave him a small smile and wave before turning to Dean and comparing notes from their Social Studies class.

Castiel watched as Jo got up and pointed to the food cart, mouthing that she'll be back in a bit before turning his attention down at his schedule and smiled at the prospect of having English next.

"Well well, who's this adorable little thing?" Castiel looked up and felt his eyes widen at the red haired girl dressed in the brightest colors he had ever seen anyone wear.

"Charlie, don't scare him..." Castiel let his eyes fall to Jo who was now walking back with food in her hands followed closely by another red haired girl.

"Castiel these are my friends Charlie Bradburry and Anna Milton. Oh and that guy running over here right now is Sam Winchester, Dean's younger brother." Dean waited until Sam reached the table and ignored his quizzical look before speaking again.

"Everyone this is Castiel Novak, he's new here and before you ask because trust me he seemed pretty tired of everyone asking. He's a 14-year-old senior." Castiel hunched in on himself at the feeling of all 6 pairs of eyes on him and started to fidget.

"P-pleasure t-to meet you all..." Castiel flinched slightly when he saw the boy named Sam Winchester raise his hand and felt silly for thinking he was going to get hurt, when the boy patted his shoulder lightly.

"Relax Castiel, we're all friends here. It's nice to meet you, if you need anything you can come to me, seeing as how we're the same age and all." Castiel met Sam's soft smile and nodded hesitantly.

"Or any one of us!" Charlie piped in from his left side.

"Yes yes, or any one of them...but come to me first" Sam smiled and sat down with Charlie on the other bench next to him. Castiel met everyone's eyes and blushed when he met Dean's worried and suspicious look.

"Um...okay yeah..."

"Hey we have English together! Oh you are just going to love Carol; she is an amazing teacher. Not to mention she's such a fun dance instructor. She is the Ballroom club's dance instructor; I mean granted we learn things like the Waltz or Tango but it's super fun. Oh we have a meeting today! You should come with!" Castiel stared wide eyed and slightly horrified at the thought of dancing and being in close quarters with other people.

"Charlie, relax look at him you probably scared him senseless. Cas, can I call you Cas? If I can't well too bad, I'm going to call you Cas. Anyways, we're all in the ballroom club it's pretty fun and you're more than welcome to stay afterschool with us and just watch if that's what you prefer." Castiel bit his lip lightly as he looked around and gave Benny a small smile.

"Yeah Benny thank you...um do…do you guys have a phone I can borrow to give my mom a call?" Before anyone could answer a phone was tossed into his lap and Castiel looked up to see Dean smiling and withdrawing his hand.

"Thanks Dean..." He watched as Dean nodded and smiled.

"Dean?" Castiel watched as Jo quirked an eyebrow in his friends' direction before shrugging it off and dialing his mom's number. He flushed when he overheard Jo making fun of Dean's blush and quick attachment to the new kid.

Castiel got permission from his overly enthusiastic mother, who was proud to hear he would be hanging out with friends, and hung up the phone just as the bell rang. He handed Dean his phone and stood up as Charlie tugged him towards their class. Castiel smiled at the feeling of actually having friends for once.

In his English class, Castiel was surprised to find out his seat would be right next to Charlie's and he was happy he at least knew someone if only by name, but she seemed pretty harmless and felt himself warming up to her mother henning to make sure he was comfortable. Before Castiel realized it, his English class was quickly coming to an end, Charlie was right Carol was an amazing teacher. He also found almost every teacher went by their last names, or well the majority of the teacher's he knew. He found out they didn't like being called by Mr. or Mrs. They instead preferred the students call them by their first names or last names without the suffix.

"Charlie, can I see you after class?" Castiel looked up to see their English teacher standing in front of them both. He watched as Charlie smiled and nodded.

About 15 minutes later the bell rang and the room quickly cleared out. He glanced over at Charlie, unsure of what to do. He fidgeted and found himself playing with the strap on his satchel again.

"Cas, you can head on out to find Dean and the others if you'd like. I need to go over some stuff about attendance and snacks for Ballroom, I'll catch up with you." Castiel nodded and smiled at the teacher standing behind Charlie.

"Do you...um do you know where they would be?" Charlie thought for a minute and nodded.

"They're either at the cafeteria eating or they're lounging around underneath the trees just down palm lane, you remember how to get there right?" Castiel nodded and mumbled softly about his eidetic memory which caused Charlie to giggle and ruffle his hair.

Castiel fixed his hair and threw Charlie a half-hearted glare before walking out and heading towards palm lane to check there since it was on his way. He was surprised to see the back of the school empty but he chalked it up as everyone else waiting in line for lunch. Just as he was rounding the corner he found himself face to chest with a very annoyed and very angry voice.

"Hey there freak, me and my buddies were just talking about you."

Castiel felt a shiver run down his spine as Crowely pushed him against the wall. He looked up and saw two other teenagers as equally evil looking as Crowley and tried to push his way through them to find Dean or even Sam.

"Whoa now, where are you off to in a hurry?" Crowley shoved him back against the wall again and fisted the front of his shirt.

"I...um...My friends are waiting for me Crowley..." Crowley quirked an eyebrow and nodded.

"Well, they'll keep waiting, only place you're going right now is with me to finish our little uh... talk from earlier." Castiel shivered in fear and felt himself hunch down to make himself smaller as Crowley threw his arm around his shoulders and started dragging him towards the bathrooms by the foreign classes.

"HEY!" Castiel never felt more relieved and terrified to hear a voice he knew. Relieved because he was about to be saved even if it was Jo's voice, terrified because Crowley and his moronic goons were picking up the pace.

"HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Castiel felt tears start falling down his eyes as they got even closer to the restroom, he knew if they made it there then Crowley could lock the door and do whatever he liked until a staff member arrived. He let his head drop forward so his hair covered his eyes and resigned himself to his fate.

Castiel sniffled and bit his lip confused as to the reason why he wasn't being dragged anymore.

"I believe the lady told you to let him go. Now Crowley, how many times have we been through this? Do you really need another lesson?" Castiel looked through his hair to see three faces he'd never been happier to see.

"Tch...you win for now Benny... watch your back freak." Castiel only had time to put his hands out to keep his face from hitting the ground as Crowley and his friends shoved him down before turning and walking away.

Castiel sniffled and felt himself shivering from his fright. "Castiel? Hey you okay? Look at us kiddo."

Castiel slowly raised his eyes to see the smiling faces of Jo, Sam, Benny, and Anna. Jo dropped to her knees in front of him and pulled him into a tight hug and felt Castiel tense up in her arms but didn't pull away. Jo took the hint though and released him before standing up and reaching out to help him up.

"Come on Cas." Castiel looked into JJ's kind eyes and nodded before taking her offered help and reaching out to take Anna's outstretched hand as well. He let them pull him up off the ground before pulling his hands away and wrapping his arms around himself in a hug.

"Th-thank you guys..." Castiel felt his tears start all over again and found himself sobbing in relief as he vaguely heard Benny on the phone with who he assumed was Dean. His assumptions were proven correct when he heard running footsteps rapidly approaching and was vaguely able to make out Dean through his blurry vision.

"Cas?! Hey you okay? What happened?" Castiel sobbed quietly as Benny told Dean everything they had seen. Before Castiel could even step away, Dean pulled him into a tight hug.

"Shhh, hey it's okay. You're okay, we won't let anything happen to you as long as we're around. I promise. Stop crying, you're okay." Castiel nodded and surprised himself as he buried his face in his friend's chest and clung tightly to him as he calmed down.

They stayed that way for at least ten minutes with the others watching them. Sometime within those ten minutes Charlie had shown up worried out of her mind and got the story from Anna. It took a while but Charlie had finally calmed down, all through Castiel's tears and sobs Dean ran his fingers through his hair and talked softly to calm him.

When Castiel finally let out his last sob and hiccup he slowly pulled away but stayed in Dean's arms and looked up at him and everyone else.

"Thank you... no one has ever stood up for me before...I was so scared...thank you..." Castiel whispered softly and blushed when the others gave him reassuring smiles and laughed as Charlie came up to him and scrubbed his tears off his face for him.

Before anyone could say anything afterwards the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Castiel sniffled one last time and pulled out of Dean's arms and dug out his schedule to see his last class of the day.

"Um... what's FP?" Castiel asked confusedly and met everyone's wide grins.

"Well, Castiel, since they are all seniors and I am incredibly smart for a freshman… technically I would have been a senior with Dean but mom said no and yet I was still able to take all of my classes required in high school but that's a story for another day anyways, all of the required classes have been taken and the only ones you actually need this year are English, Social Studies/Government, and three electives. Which yours seem to be journalism with Dean, ceramics with all of us, and library aide with Anna, Benny, and Dean. FP stands for free period so guess what...you get to spend that period either at home or somewhere else. Seeing as how it's your last class on A-days, you're basically done with school by lunch and are free to go home." Sam explained while looking over Castiel's schedule.

"Wait... why aren't any of you guys going to class then?" Castiel watched as everyone's faces broke out into smiles again and Winchester answered this time.

"We all have a free period right now, we all requested it last year and we all ended up getting it, because a certain someone hacked into the school's system." Sam hinted a look at Charlie who smirked and shrugged. "We would've went home or went to go hang out somewhere but since we have Ballroom today we stayed on campus... Plus none of us wanted to leave you alone." Castiel chuckled softly and stared at all his new friends.

"So what should we do then..."

"Ellen will let us stay with her...I'm sure of it come on, besides she's been texting me and telling me to bring you whenever I can because you are skin and bones and she wants to fatten you up." Castiel laughed louder this time as he nodded and watched as everyone made their way to the cafeteria in higher spirits now that they heard him laugh.

He strayed behind them a bit and looked up at Dean. "Hey u-um...th-thanks for uh...f-for helping me calm d-down..." Dean laughed softly and ruffled his hair.

"Anytime Cas, anytime." Castiel smiled widely and found he didn't really care about Dean touching him as he followed after the rest of their friends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _He smiled down at his next victim, Jake, and couldn't help how much he looked just like his precious boy. He brushed semi-long bangs from the boys' eyes and smiled when he started to stir in his sleep. He watched intensely as Jake groaned and slowly forced his eyes open. He watched as the boy's expression went from confusion to panic._

 _"Where am I? Who are you?" Jake quickly sat up and pushed himself as far back as possible._

 _"That is not important. Even if you were to know who I was...you wouldn't live long enough for it to matter." He watched as Jake's eyes widened in fear. He smiled and snapped his hand out quickly slipping his fingers through the boy's hair and grabbing a hand full to pull him close._

 _"Those eyes...gorgeous big green eyes...so much like his...just like your hair...so soft and silky, just like his... you know the moment I saw him I knew I loved him...but everyone said it was wrong… I knew I had to have him… but it's not time for him yet… so for now... for now I will have to deal with you... you are as close to him as I can get..." He watched as Jake started shaking in fear and smiled wildly._

 _"Let me go please...please I'll do anything..." Jake pleaded on deaf ears._

 _"Shhh Dean, please don't cry... I'll take good care of you my precious boy..."_

It turned out that Dean's aunt was more than happy to have all of them in the kitchen with her. Jo who Castiel found out was Ellen's daughter and Charlie gave her a huge hug when they saw her before scurrying off to help with the dishes. Benny and Sam did the same and started wiping off the cafeteria tables. Anna gave a small smile and made her way to the supplies closet and grabbed the broom.

"What can we do Ellen?" Dean smiled at his friends' actions and kissed her on the cheek. Cas walked over and stood awkwardly next to his friend, feeling like he should be doing something.

"You can go help Anna. Castiel, come with me. You can help me prep the snacks for today's afterschool clubs." Castiel nodded and followed after Dean's aunt smiling.

"Just Cas is fine…" Castiel mumbled softly as Ellen nodded.

"Why can't I help you guys with the snacks?!" Dean groaned.

"You know why Dean. If I let you near them, you'll end up eating everything instead of prepping now shoo." Castiel let out a soft chuckle and watched his friend slump towards Anna who held out her broom to him.

"Come on sweetheart, let's go see what we can get for snacks today." Castiel nodded and followed with an extra skip in his step.

"Cas can you drag that cart with you?" Castiel nodded and grabbed the only empty cart he saw available as they passed it. He sighed at the height of it and had to look around the side in order to make sure he didn't accidentally run into her. He hummed softly as they stopped in front of the refrigerator doors. Castiel watched as Ellen propped the door open with a nearby bucket and beckoned him in.

"For today's snack we were told to hand out string cheese, milk, juice, grapes, chips, and small bags of cookies."

Castiel quirked an eyebrow and nodded slowly, "one person is supposed to eat all that?"

Ellen smiled and shook her head, "Heavens no, those are just the options each student will have today. They are required to take the cheese, and they choose between milk or juice, and grapes, chips, or cookies."

"That makes a lot more sense." Castiel nodded with a soft smile.

"I should hope so. Anyways, I'll start loading the bottom part of the cart with juice and cheese, would you mind grabbing the boxes of grapes and some milk. We'll keep the drinks fresh in the small refrigerators in the front." Castiel nodded and got started on his task quietly. He was finished with the grapes and halfway through putting the milk on the cart when Ellen spoke up again.

"So I heard you ran into a little trouble today." Castiel froze and nodded slowly. They continued to work in silence before he finally took a deep breath and asked quietly.

"How'd you know?"

"Oh sweetheart, it's a small school. Word gets around fast, and a coworker of mine said she saw Benny and the others protecting you from a couple of kids." He nodded and gave a small smile as he finished.

"You know, if you made friends with anyone. I'm glad it's that young group of kids out there cleaning, because they don't take too kindly to bullying. Sam used to be bullied a lot because of how smart he is. I never understood why Mary, that's their mom, didn't just send Sam up to senior year with Dean. He already finished all the courses he's supposed to take, what's the boy to do now? Anyways, that group is always thinking they have to protect others… nicest group of kids you'll ever find"

"They make me feel welcome" Castiel added softly with a smile.

"I'm glad, otherwise I would have to go straighten them all out. Starting with that stubborn nephew of mine. Anyways listen Cas, I'm going to tell you what I told the others. If there's ever anything you need, or anything you need to talk about no matter what. You can always come to me."

"Thank you… I'll keep that in mind. Maybe moving here isn't as bad as I first thought" Ellen smiled and patted his shoulder softly before waving him out of the fridge.

"I'm glad you think so, now let's go finish setting up in the front before one of those kids makes a mess" Castiel nodded and pushed the cart towards the front, once again following Ellen.

The rest of the free period was spent joking around as they all cleaned and set up snacks. Every now and then Castiel would chuckle softly to himself as one or sometimes all of his new friends would get scolded by Dean's aunt for using brooms and mops as swords or tossing wet rags at each other. After a while he started to set up the counter with chips and concentrated on making sure each line was perfectly straight.

He was so focused he didn't hear the others speaking to him, he also didn't realize his new friends were leaning against the counter patiently watching and waiting for him to finish.

When he finally put up the last bag of chips he looked up and blushed slightly at the amused looks he got.

"You know Cas, in a few minutes those pretty lines are going to be all messed up by rowdy teenagers." He shrugged at Jo's comment.

Before he could say anything, Ellen stepped towards them with a sheet of paper and gave it to Charlie.

"Oh, Carol just called here. I guess she knew you lot would be here, she mentioned she was cancelling todays' meeting but to go ahead and fill out your names and student ID numbers to get your snacks anyways." Castiel watched as the group gave a chorus of soft groans before slowly making their way to Charlie to write in their information.

"Sucks we didn't get to meet today and show you how great we are at the waltz but maybe next week?" He looked up at Benny and gave a small smile before nodding.

"I look forward to it." By the time they were all finished getting their snacks the last bell of the day had rung. Dean stretched as he grabbed his backpack and yawned.

"So what now guys? We just going to head home?" Dean turned to the group who all shrugged.

"We can go play some video games or something…" Anna volunteered to a chorus of groans.

"No way, the last time we did that Charlie won everything and I for one do not need a repeat show." Sam stated as they all made their way off of campus.

"What about you Cas, any ideas?" Jo questioned.

Castiel shrugged at everyone's questioning stare. "I think I'm just going to go help my mom finish unpacking, then we're probably going to head down to that frozen yogurt place."

"Morgan's Frozen Yogurt? I love that place, hey why don't we all go help you unpack and then we can all head over for a treat. We all pay for ourselves obviously." Dean smiled over at Castiel who gave a soft smile and shrugged.

"I mean… if you want to… you don't really have to help out."

"Nonsense, what kinds of friends would we be if we left you and your mom to unpack everything alone." Benny stated as they walked past the adult school across from the high school.

"I guess you guys can help… thanks by the way… hey how'd you guys know I lived this way?" Cas asked after they had walked a few more steps down the street that led to his house. Dean quirked an eyebrow and shrugged.

"We didn't… we were just heading towards our homes to drop off our stuff, hey at least this means we might live close to you." Charlie nodded at Dean's comment. The seven of them continued on down the road until they were at Castiel's block and Anna gasped softly.

"Dude no way…" He and the others shot her curious glances as she spoke.

"Castiel Novak you did not tell me you moved in next door!" He frowned in confusion as he looked over at the moving van in front of his new home.

"I… didn't know?" Charlie squealed which made the others cringe slightly as she placed her hand on Castiel's shoulders.

"This is perfect! You moved in to the perfect home!" He was still completely confused as Sam sighed and patted his back to gain his attention.

"That's where you live now right?" He looked over to the brick house Sam was pointing at and nodded slowly.

"Okay so if you're standing in front of your house and you're looking across the street, the house to the left of yours with the black gates belongs to Anna's family. The one next to the one on the right belongs to Charlie's family. Directly across the street is Jo and Ellen. The two story house close to the corner diagonally left of yours is mine and Dean's. And if you keep walking straight down, on the next block Benny lives directly on the corner." Castiel stared in shock at his new friend's faces and slowly looked around his block to all the other houses.

"You're kidding…" Dean chuckled softly and shook his head.

"Nah, looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other Angel."

Cas's face flushed at the nickname as he stuttered for a response that never came, luckily Benny saved him from answering.

"How about we all head home and put our things down and meet back at your house in 10 minutes?" Cas nodded and walked towards his door as the others headed to their homes before he stopped them.

"Wait, how come you guys didn't realize I was your new neighbor until now?"

Sam shrugged and pointed at Dean, Anna, Jo, and Charlie. "They all need coffee before they actually pay attention to their surroundings and Benny and I usually read on our walk to school or go over notes for class. If we did notice it must have barely registered in our brains."

Castiel shook his head as a small smile formed on his face, "You all should pay more attention in the morning…"

He smiled at the rest of his friends before heading inside with a soft comment about seeing them in 10 minutes. As he opened the door he felt his jaw open wide at the mess strewn about the living room.

"Mom what on Earth happened?! I can't even walk in here!" Castiel watched as his mom appeared from around the corner that led to the kitchen with a sheepish grin on her face.

"I might have underestimated my unpacking skills… You have to put things away as you start unpacking and before you start cooking and watching a television show otherwise you end up with this big mess… who knew." He groaned and banged his head lightly on the doorframe.

"Well at least everyone will have something to do when they get here…" Castiel sighed as he took off his backpack and left it on the front step before stumbling his way through the mess of books, pictures, furniture, and other items littering the floor.

"Oh! Your friends are coming to help?!" Evelyn smiled widely and excitedly as her son finally stood next to her. Castiel nodded and laughed softly as his mom pulled him into a tight hug.

"They'll be here in about 5 minutes… Is it alright if they come with us afterwards to Morgan's?" Diana nodded and he watched as her smile widened.

"I'm so excited to meet them!" Castiel smiled and sighed as he looked at the mess around him and thanked whoever ran the frozen yogurt place that they were open 24/7 because that mess might take them all awhile.

Castiel stretched a little as he threw the last piece of clothing onto the pile to his right. He had decided to at least make a small pathway from which his friends would be able to start from.

"Knock knock." Cas turned to see Dean leaning against the doorframe sporting an amused smile. "The uh… door was open"

Cas flushed and gave a small nod. "Yeah… uh sorry for the mess… It surprised me as well…"

"Is this one of your friends?! Oh honey he's gorgeous" Castiel flushed brighter at his mom's voice behind him.

"Mooom…"

"What? Darling, I may be getting old but I do still have working eyes, and this young man is absolutely gorgeous. If you ever want to date my son you are more than welcome to… as long as he wants to as well…" Castiel rolled his eyes as his face turned a darker shade and slowly met Dean's widening grin. Before he could say anything Sam popped up next to Dean frowning up at his older brother.

"What the heck De, you totally ditched me!" Dean shrugged and turned back to the other two.

"Hi, you must be Castiel's mom, I'm Dean and this is my kid brother Sam. We live across the street in the two story. Actually here come all of the others, we all live literally within the same or next block so we might be over to bug a lot if that's fine by you." Castiel had to stifle the love-struck sigh that almost escaped at Dean's charming smile, while Sam rolled his eyes and took in the room.

"Whoa… did a tornado hit while we were at school?"

"SAMMY!"

"Hey guys…holy crap Cas… this is definitely not what we were expecting."

Dean groans at Charlie's words as her and the others walk up to inspect the living room. Cas felt like his face was on fire as he shot his mother a soft glare. Evelyn's bright smile slipped into an embarrassed and sheepish grin.

"Don't listen to these moron's ma'am, you have a lovely home and this is what we're here for anyway. Put us to work" Castiel smiles over Dean's shoulder and mouths a silent, thank you, towards Benny who gives him a small wink before waiting for instructions.

"Oh well, we have all the furniture where it needs to go… we just need to finish putting everything in its place since I already made a mess of unpacking. How about we start by separating everything that belongs in the kitchen. All the picture frames lean them against the wall in the kitchen and we'll put those up later, and all the clothes we can separate and stick them in the proper rooms." Evelyn smiled at the group who suddenly looked determined and clapped her hands.

"Wonderful, now I hope everyone's fine with pizza… I got distracted by a show on my phone and ruined dinner…"

"Pizza sounds perfect, thank you." Sam smiled widely as he made his way into the house followed closely by Dean and the others.

"Hey Cas! So I did a thing…" Charlie smiles sheepishly as she manages to hop through the mess and land next to him and his mom.

"Okay… What thing?" Charlie's smile brightened.

"I kind of… already set up your internet and scheduled for the phone company to come over on Monday to get you set up…" Charlie turned an embarrassed smile up to Evelyn. "I just kind of figured with all of this going on you could use some help."

"That's wonderful sweetheart, thank you, it honestly slipped my mind" Evelyn smiled and reached out to tuck a stray strand of Charlie's bright red hair behind her ear.

"Awesome! Okay now… where can I plug in my phone because it's dying and we need music!" Castiel chuckled softly as he pointed to where Anna and Sam were moving a huge picture frame.

"Right over there"

Charlie nodded and dove into a pile of clothing by Benny and Dean before giggling and scrambling away towards the outlet. Dean shook his head at his friends' antics before throwing a stray pillow at her and continuing to help Benny sort through the clothes.

Castiel looked over at his mom and gave a small smile as she waved him towards the others and pulled out her phone to presumably call the nearest pizza place. Cas slowly sidled up next to Jo and started helping her sort through the kitchenware. She smiled and nudged him to get his attention and points to where Charlie is mouthing the words to the song "My House" and to his amusement he finds Dean searching for another pillow. He shakes his head and starts grabbing stacks of pots and pans off of the couch and heading towards the kitchen to set them down by the cabinet next to the sink. Jo follows closely behind and starts putting a couple of plates and bowls into the cabinet by Evelyn after receiving a nod from the older woman.

Everyone continued with their tasks for about an hour when Castiel looks up at the sound of Sam's voice loudly belting out "Used to Love You" and snorts out a chuckle of amusement at the sight of the boy holding a brush in his hand and reaching towards where Charlie and Dean are both singing back loudly. He looked around and found his mom and everyone else watching with wide smiles. Cas turned back in time to see Dean dramatically mouthing the words to his younger brother before ruffling his hair and shoving the kid into a pile of Castiel's clothes.

He opened his mouth, after the song is finished, to mention how far they had gotten in clearing the living room when the doorbell rings.

"PIZZA!" Castiel jumped at the sound of Anna, Sam's and Charlie's yell as he took the money his mother was handing him and headed towards the door. Dean smiled and followed along to the door.

"Need help?"

"Sure, thank you Dean. You can take it to the kitchen while I pay." Dean nodded as Castiel opened the door to a skinny blonde haired boy standing there with 6 boxes in his hand, he can't help but feel as though he'd seen the boy before.

"Afternoon, I have 4 pepperoni pizzas and 2 supreme pizzas. That'll come out to $45.78 please" Castiel nodded as he took the boxes and handed them to Dean who he noticed was watching the boy with a frown.

"Here you go, go ahead and keep the change." Castiel decided to ignore it as he handed over $55

"Thank you, sir." Castiel gave a shy smile and fidgeted slightly at the feeling of the guy's eyes roaming over his body, he cleared his throat slightly at the sudden uncomfortable feeling he felt pooling in the pit of his stomach and nodded.

"No… um, thank you, um… Adam" Castiel squinted slightly as he read the nametag and gives a small smile while stepping back into the safety of his home next to where Dean is still standing with a hard glare on his face. Castiel is slightly startled at the arm that slides around his waist.

"Come on Cas, everyone's waiting for us." He flushes brightly as he nods and closes the door after bidding Adam a farewell.

Dean gives him an embarrassed smile before slowly stepping away from him and towards the kitchen where he hears Benny arguing with Charlie and Sam about video games.

Cas found himself sighing softly and missing the comfortable feeling of safety that he got from Dean before plastering a smile on his face and following Dean to join the others.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _He stood and wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed as he took in the sight of the dismembered body in front of him. He hated how the boy fought him, yet he couldn't deny the thrill that coursed through his spine. Now he was left with another mess to clean up, and as he did so, he hated the way the boy in front of him no longer reminded him of his beloved._

 _He frowned and none to gently kicked aside an arm as he made his way over to a shovel leaning against the wall. He figured he might as well start digging before the sun completely disappeared._

The rest of the evening, after the pizza break, was spent with the group of friends walking back and forth with piles of clothes. It was without a spoken word, that everyone agreed on the boy's helping Castiel put his clothes away and the girl's helping Evelyn.

It was a couple of hours before they were all finished and met in the now clean living room.

"I'm telling you Cas, no man should have as many pink shirts as you do…" Benny stated with a wide smile as he clapped the younger boy on the back before taking a seat next to Jo.

Castiel felt his cheeks turn a bright shade as the rest of the group chuckled softly.

"Don't listen to them Cas, they're just jealous." Sam smirked as he pushed Dean away from the last available space open on the couch. Dean in turn, frowned and ruffled his brother's hair before leaning against the wall next to Castiel.

As Sam opened his mouth to complain, the doorbell rang and cut him off. Castiel smiled at the boy's pout and glare as he pushed off the wall and answered the door. When he opened it he came face to face with an older male in a baseball cap with a scowl that could send even the toughest people running.

"Hello… can I help you with something?" The older man let his gaze linger on Castiel for a bit before he nodded once and spoke up.

"Yeah, there a girl here? Red hair? Goes by the name of Charlie?"

"Hey, Uncle Bobby!" Castiel grunted softly as he felt a weight fall onto his back and saw a glimpse of red hair in the corner of his eye as Charlie leaned all her weight on him.

"Don't you 'hey uncle Bobby' me. What the hell kind of note was that? You didn't think to pick up that damn phone of yours and send me a text? Newsflash, sweetheart, all the kids are texting nowadays." Castiel watched as Charlie screwed up her face into a frown as she thought.

"What was wrong with my note?" Bobby sputtered with wide eyes and Castiel watched as Charlie moved to lean on the other side of the doorframe. He could hear the others behind him talking about the frozen yogurt place, he didn't think they noticed the company at the door yet. Or if they did, they didn't seem to mind it very much.

"What was wrong with it?! You wrote 'Hey Bobby, I'm going out for a while, going for a stroll through hell. Don't wait up, not sure if I'll ever make it back – Queen Charlie" Bobby frowned as he glared at the girl who sported a wide smile.

"Well I mean this kind of was hell when we first got here…" Castiel frowned at Charlie who gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged.

"Well, I'll be damned…Bobby Singer!" Castiel turned to see his mother standing in the middle of the living room with a wide smile and saw Charlie and the others look between the two adults.

"Evelyn Novak…"

"You get in here and give me a hug, you old coot! It's been ages!" Castiel and Charlie stepped aside as Bobby made his way inside the home with a slight flush on his cheeks and the biggest grin anyone had seen on him in a while.

Castiel looked over to Dean and saw him shrug with a confused smile and decided to let his curiosity go for now. He made his way over to the arm rest next to where Sam was sitting and sat down as Charlie sat on the ground next to Dean. Castiel and the others watched as Bobby and Evelyn got reacquainted.

"I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been? What happened to your shop?" Evelyn pulled back and held onto the man in front of her gently.

"I sold it. Best damn thing I ever did, now don't get me wrong I will always love fixing up cars, but having to deal with stuck up assholes who can't tell the difference between where to put oil and where to put transmission fluid really started to get annoying." Bobby shrugged as he lifted his hat slightly and scratched his head.

"I decided it was time to retire so I sold the house and bought the place two doors down. A couple of months later and the house on the corner opened up and I helped an old friend move in there after she ended up having some trouble with her husband. Honestly I think we all moved in around here because it was closer to Ellen and you know how that woman is." Bobby flushed slightly at his explanation.

"Well I'll be damned, Ellen lives here also? Then that must mean you, young lady, are Joanna Harvelle. My how beautiful you've grown." Evelyn turned to Jo and smiled as she reached over and patted her cheek lightly and chuckled at the girl's confused look.

"Robert Singer! You totally ditched me! I told you I'd come with because the boys left a note saying they were visiting the new neighbors, I told you to wait you old…" Evelyn and the rest of the group turned to look between a short beautiful young blonde woman standing at the doorway with her hands on her hips and a now sheepish Bobby Singer.

"Bless my soul… It can't be… Mary Winchester" Before anyone could even ask a question, Evelyn had already launched herself at the shorter lady and had her wrapped tightly in a hug.

"Evelyn… my God, where have you been? How have you been? Oh, I am so mad at you for leaving me! Oh, but you're here now… my goodness you're still as lovely as you were 13 years ago… Oh! And this must be young Castiel…" The group watched in amusement as Mary ranged from one emotion to the next before finally settling on pure happiness and launching herself at the young 14-year-old.

Castiel looked frightened and instantly tensed up in the bone crushing hug as he cast a confused look from his mother to Sam, Bobby, and finally Dean. Sam and Dean's confusion was returned back. Bobby and Evelyn watched with kind smiles. Cas shot his mom a pleading look and mentally relaxed as she came over and put a hand on Mary's back.

"Mary, I don't wish to be rude, however… Castiel has this thing… about being touched…" Mary quickly released the boy as Sam snorted from across the room.

"He doesn't seem to have a problem when Dean has his arm around him." Castiel flushed as smiles were sent his way.

Mary smiled and sighed happily before going over to take the hands of both of her children and dragged them to Evelyn. "Evelyn, you remember my boy's, Sam and Dean"

"I thought that might be them, they looked so familiar. They've grown so big and into such adorable and handsome young men. My, I still remember when you were toddling around in diapers." Evelyn smiled as she brushed a bit of Sam's hair away from his face and turned to Dean.

"I still remember when we would put you to bed so we could relax while Sam and Castiel slept across the hall and when it was time to leave… I would go to get Castiel and I'd find you cuddled up next to Sam with your arms wrapped protectively around both boys." Dean flushed slightly as Mary chuckled and nodded.

"I actually think I have a few pictures at home in an album somewhere" Marry exclaimed happily.

Benny cleared his throat and waited until all eyes were on him. "So am I to understand, you know Dean's family?" He asked Evelyn.

"Know them? Nah kid, more like Evelyn, Mary, and Ellen were inseparable. They were the best of friends and more often than not if you found Mary you found the other two… of course it made it easier for them to be together since they lived next door to each other. As it so happens they somehow found their way back to each other. It was the perfect life, children all together with Dean and Jo looking out for Sam and Castiel, and the girls all together happily annoying me or some other poor sucker." Bobby stated shaking his head in disbelief.

"Huh… wait if it was the perfect life, what happened?" Anna spoke up from her seat. Evelyn gave a small shrug and smile.

"Chuck… well he needed new inspiration for his stories, he refused to hear me out and uprooted the family and moved us to Vegas, then from there it was just one hotel or temporary home after another. We went almost everywhere from New York to Florida all the way to Nevada and after a while I just got so tired of moving… the day I was going to ask for a divorce, he disappeared. We haven't seen him since, so I finally just packed everything up, took my baby with me and here we are." Evelyn smiled softly at Castiel as she ran her fingers through his hair before blushing and looking at Anna.

"Sorry about that, you just asked what happened and I gave you our life story…" Evelyn chuckled softly.

"That damn fool… I knew I should have bashed his nose in when I had the chance… how dare he abandon his family…" Bobby seethed and took in a deep breath.

"It's okay Bobby, I've made peace with it, and since he bought the house I left the divorce papers signed along with all of his belongings on the table." Evelyn chuckled again as all the kids moved around and made room on the other sofa for the adults. Dean, Sam, Castiel, and Jo took a seat on the floor against the wall across from them.

"What about you Mary? I didn't expect to see you here… how's John?" Evelyn watched as the blonde gave a tired smile and shrugged. Castiel felt Dean and Sam both tense beside him and nudged them both. He relaxed himself when he felt both boys take a deep breath and relax.

"John is um… well… I'm not sure how he is honestly… John and I divorced when Dean was 12 and Sam was 8." Evelyn reached over and placed her hand over Mary's and gave a light squeeze.

"What happened? You two were so happy…"

Mary shrugged again and Bobby sighed. "I thought so too but apparently while he was away on a business trip, the temptation was too strong and he hooked up with some woman at a bar… who would've thought that bar would have been on the other side of town."

"We didn't even know, Eve… he hid it from us for so many years… we found out when a teenager almost about the same age as Dean came over and asked for his older brother and younger brother because he wanted to play… He'd been having an affair with the boy's mother for so many years…" Evelyn gave a small smile at Mary's old nickname for her and leaned over and gave her another hug.

"So you got a divorce after finding out what happened?" Mary nodded and looked over to Bobby with a wide smile.

"Bobby drove down and knocked a few teeth loose when I told him. Then he stayed with us for a while as we signed the divorce papers and John gave up custody to the kids. He moved in with the other woman and her son. Shortly after Bobby helped us pack up and we moved to his house. When the two story went up for sell we took it and have been living here ever since. About a year ago John and his wife and son moved into town also, we talked a few things out and he decided he wanted to be in his children's lives so he now lives a couple blocks away. The kids go over every now and then to visit him but the visits have become less frequent. Adam, that's John's other son, comes by every now and then to walk with Dean and Sam to school." Mary glanced over at the others who were listening to the story silently and gave them all a small smile.

Castiel glanced over to Dean and leaned in and whispered softly, "Is this the same Adam that delivered the pizzas?"

Dean gave a small smile and nodded.

Evelyn sighed and thought over everything she heard before nodding, "So Adam, is Dean's younger brother and Sam's older brother?" Mary nodded.

"Dean is 18 going to be 19 in January, Adam is 17 he just turned it this year in September, and Sam is 14 turning 15 in May." Evelyn nodded and sighed softly before standing and turning to the others.

"Well, thank you for telling us all, now then I think there's been enough serious talk. These kids have been waiting forever and I realize it's rather late but would you two also like to join us for frozen yogurt?" Evelyn smiled over at Bobby and Mary.

Mary smiled and rolled her eyes as she stood up, Bobby following along. "Oh please you're just asking because you need us to drive some of the kids."

Evelyn smiled sheepishly and nodded, "okay, so I probably hadn't quite thought it through yet…"

Bobby rolled his eyes and shrugged, "I could go for some frozen yogurt, let's go kids."

After a short argument of who went in which car and the drive to Morgan's, Castiel found himself standing in front of a machine with an empty cup being shoved into his hands. He looked over to see Sam standing there with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on Cas, it's super easy. You fill up the cup with whatever flavor you want like Dean is right now… the glutton…" Sam and Cas both glance over to where Dean is arguing with Anna and Charlie as he goes from one flavor to another.

"I understood that much Sam, but thank you… Do you think… you might show me around town tomorrow? I mean if you're not busy…" Castiel mumbled as he spoke into his empty cup.

Sam cocked his head to the side in thought before letting a huge smile take over his face. "You're asking me?"

Castiel flushed and met his eyes uncertainly before shrugging, "You mentioned earlier to come to you in case I needed anything…"

"No, no of course, I'm just surprised… I thought you would have asked Dean so I'm happy you came to me! Of course I'll show you around, what time?"

"HEY CAS! Get over here before Dean eats everything!" Charlie bellowed at the top of her lungs, which earned her a light slap over the head from Bobby and chuckling from everyone else.

"We're indoors, lower your voice" Bobby reprimanded lightly.

Cas smiled at Charlie and caught Dean's pout before turning back to Sam, "How does around noon sound?" Sam nodded and motioned towards the machines.

After Cas had gotten himself a cup half full of vanilla frozen yogurt, he made sure to head to the toppings station and pour the chocolate shell all over. Then he poured a spoonful of cherries, strawberries, and chopped up kiwis on top and made his way over to pay for his cup and headed to the table that he saw Jo and Anna pushing together to fit everyone into.

Once everyone was seated and enjoying their own creative desserts, Dean spoke up from beside Castiel.

"So Cas, what's the story? I'm sure you know more about mine and Sam's story now from our mom, but we don't know much more than your mom's side on your life." Castiel looked around and noticed everyone else in their own conversations before shrugging and turning back to Dean.

"Well it's like my mom said, we moved around a lot for my dad's work. I never really fit in anywhere, every time we moved I was the new genius in a new town and as you can imagine… it didn't go very well." Dean ate his dessert in silence as Cas explained, making sure to nod here and there to show that he was listening.

"It really sucked moving constantly mostly because each time we did, mom would encourage me to go out and make friends and have fun… each time I ended up coming home with either a bloody nose or bruises and I would end up having to see that look on her face. You know the look, it's the one you get when someone pity's you… After a while she just stopped getting her hopes up when she told me to make new friends and instead always welcomed me home with a first aid kit. And after a while I just stopped trying to make friends, I decided there was no point in hoping that the youngest genius in the class would ever be accepted, and if someone finally saw me for me it would probably mean I had died and gone to heaven." Castiel glanced up from his melting dessert and noticed all eyes were on him, he glanced toward his mother and found her watching him with a soft sad smile. He turned his attention back to Dean to find him with the same expression before he turned his attention back to his dessert and cleared his throat.

"So I guess you can imagine her surprise when I called her up in the afternoon to ask if I could stay afterschool with you guys. Granted that kind of never happened and instead you all had to stay and help us unpack and move in."

"Hey, no one _had_ to do anything. We all chose to help Cas… it's what friends are for." Castiel looked up and gave Sam a small smile before nodding and turning his attention to the others.

"So, what about everyone else? What's your stories?"

At this point the adults turned back to each other and continued with their own conversation. Jo cleared her throat, "Well me and mom have been living here for as long as I can remember, don't really know my father all too well… I mean I'm sure I once did but as you get older you tend to forget a lot of things that might've been important to you once. I mean I know he used to work with Dean's dad but not much else, he passed away before I can really remember him. Since then Bobby kind of took up the position of step dad to almost all of us… he doesn't like being called that though so we just stick to uncle Bobby. Pretty sure he's dating my mom though so…" Jo shrugged and motioned for someone else to go on.

"Well I don't really have any problems like you, Dean, Sam, and Jo went through… I have both of my parents but they're rarely home, they both work at the hospital. Mom's a nurse and dad's a doctor so they're both pretty busy. We sometimes have family dinners together and movie nights but other than that if I usually want to see them both at the same time I have to stop by the hospital. Nicest people you might ever meet though. Oh but they will scold you when you do something dumb… like say, jump off a roof and break your arm. Right Sam?" Anna smiled brightly at the nods in agreement she got from the others. Sam rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Guess that means it's my turn." Benny smiled around the spoon he seemed to be chewing on. "I couldn't stand my folks, bunch of lazy drunk bastards. I wanted a better life so the day I met Dean, he introduced me to Bobby, old man helped me out a lot."

"I'll show you an old man, you ungrateful brat!" Bobby murmured as he hit Benny upside the head with his hat before going back to talking with the Mary and Evelyn.

Benny smirked and sat back in his chair as he continued, "Anyways, he helped me find a job, house that I live in now? Trust me, mice wouldn't even want to live in when I first moved in. I rebuilt the place myself, Bobby helped by getting me a job fixing up places like that. Afterwards the house went for sale and Bobby bought it for me. I went to court and filed for emancipation and since I was able to show the judge I could manage going to school, holding a steady well-paying job, and be responsible I won my case. Parents were pissed but haven't seen or heard from them since Bobby rented me the place." Castiel stared at Benny in awe before smiling and turning to Charlie.

"What about you Charlie?"

"Me? Oh well not much to tell really…" Castiel watched as Charlie fiddled with her spoon before she took a deep breath and gave him a small smile.

"Went to a sleep over one night… I got scared so I called my parents to come pick me up… sweetest people you would ever meet, mom always read _The Hobbit_ to me before bed she's the reason I'm in love with fantasy realms. It's kind of like another world I can escape to in order to forget the madness in the real world… anyways calling them to pick me up is something I've regretted for a very long time. On the way to pick me up, they were hit by a drunk driver… my dad died instantly and my mom… she was pronounced brain-dead and she ended up on life support. I stayed in that hospital every day, I quit school made sure to stay with her and read _The Hobbit_ to her in hopes that she could hear me and one day she'd wake up." Castiel reached over and lightly rubbed Charlie's back as she wiped away the tears forming in her eyes.

"It's okay Charlie, you don't have to tell me. I don't want you to relive something that still causes you so much pain." Castiel gave her a small smile.

"It's okay Cas, I want to tell you. Anyways, where was I… right well after always staying with her I ended up meeting Anna's parents, they were kind. Sometimes let me stay the night at their place and hang out with Anna. Both my grandparents had already passed away and my parents were only child's so there wasn't really much I could do besides be put into the system. I knew if that happened well, there was a chance I'd end up far away from my mom so I begged Anna's parents to help me. They introduced me to Bobby and he fought for me in court. I live with Bobby now, he's my legal guardian and at first I was wary about him. I mean he's scary but once I moved in and got to know him I found out it was all just an act. He's awesome. He let me stay with my mom on the condition that I went back to school. I was only twelve when the accident happened so it was tough but with friends like these and a kick-ass guardian like Bobby, everything worked out. I was 15 when I finally decided I was going to be okay… so I went to the hospital and read to my mom one last time before I gave the okay to let her go. Two years ago I said goodbye to my mom and not once since then have I ever thought it was the wrong decision."

Charlie smiled brightly at Castiel and then at Bobby who gave her a small nod. Castiel surprised Charlie by pulling her into a tight hug.

"Thank you…" Charlie giggled softly and hugged him back before they turned back to the others.

"So no more sad stuff, we've all gone through our share of pain and there's more to come obviously because that's how the world works. But I say it's time for seconds!" Charlie announced loudly as she stood up and made her way to the machines again as the rest of the group laughed and Bobby scolded her again.

Castiel looked over to Dean to see him smiling fondly in Charlies direction. He looked over and met Castiels eyes and gave a small smile.

"How about it, up for seconds?"

Castiel pursed his lips in thought and shrugged, "Sure but I better go before you eat all of it!" Dean felt his mouth open in shock as the others laughed and followed Castiel back to the machines, leaving him there gaping.

"Hey! I do not eat that much!" Dean bellowed as he stood up and stormed to the giggling group. Castiel smiled widely as he saw Dean and shrugged.

"This is an awesome day." Castiel mumbled to himself and flushed when he noticed Dean heard him.

"Hell yeah it is, best day ever."


	5. Chapter 5

_He sat calmly and quietly in front of the unconscious thin boy as he contemplated how he'd kill this one and where exactly he should hide the body. He wanted to see if this one would be better than the others. He didn't like repetition when it came to the disposal site, he knew it was a sure way to get himself caught and he couldn't allow that just yet. He smiled when he saw the slight twitch in the boys' hand. Watched closely as the boys' eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, still slowly awakening. He moved to the edge of his seat when the boy in front of him opened his eyes fully and took in his surroundings._

 _He felt a smile slowly start to split across his face as he watched the boys breathing turn frantic. It took a split second for giant green eyes to meet his and he watched as full panic and fear settled into the shiny green gems. He ignored the muffled shouts and the flinch the boy gave as he gently and slowly reached forward and ran his fingers over the boys' bottom lip. He loved how the boys' lips parted around the piece of fabric he had tied to keep him from screaming._

 _He slowly stood up and stepped close to the thin boy before lightly caressing his cheek with the back of his hand. He watched with a wide smile as the boy underneath him froze. Gently he bent over at the waist to come level with the scared gaze and lightly brushed the hair off from the boys' forehead._

" _Shhh, come now. There's no need to be afraid… I'm going to take really good care of you." He gently let his hand run down the side of the boys' face once more before leaning closer and placing a soft kiss on his forehead._

" _Really good care of you Dean… don't worry."_

Sam yawned as he made his way downstairs while rubbing his eyes. He walked into the kitchen where he heard noise coming from and smelled the delicious rich scent of brewing coffee. He turned the corner into the kitchen and watched his mom quickly turn off the stove and move the pan to one of the back burners. He yawned again and made his way to the coffee machine with a mumbled greeting to Dean who was leaning against the counter sipping from his own mug.

Mary raised an eyebrow at her youngest and quickly stole the mug of coffee from him and emptied it into her own travel mug and ruffled his hair.

"You know better Sam. You are way too young for coffee. Drink some orange juice. Dean keep your brother away from the coffee, I have to go, I'm late. Breakfast is done." Dean nodded and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and smirked at his brother as he grumbled and opened the fridge for the orange juice. Sam gave his mom a kiss also and waited until she was heading towards the door before flipping Dean off.

"Oh, and Sam make sure you be careful today. If you're going to stay out late make sure you message me." Sam nodded and gulped down his glass of juice.

"Where's he goin'? Where you going little brother?" Dean asked his mom before turning to Sam.

He watched as Sam shrugged and finished his juice before rinsing it out and setting it to dry and grabbing a plate.

"He's going to show Castiel around town, honey why don't you go with him. Make sure he doesn't break his arm or somehow manage to get sent to the hospital."

"Ugh mooom! That was one time and I thought I could fly!" Sam blushed brightly as his family started laughing before turning back to the stove and ladling scrambled eggs onto his plate along with bacon and hash browns.

"Pancakes are in the microwave." Mary mentioned as she quickly grabbed her things and kissed her son's goodbye.

Dean turned to his younger brother and sipped from his coffee before nudging him and clearing his throat. "So, hanging with Cas today huh?"

"Oh my God, no you can't come."

"Why not?"

"Because Dean he asked me not you or anyone else…" Sam hip checked his brother as he walked to the table with his breakfast. Dean rolled his eyes and grabbed some food before joining him. He waited until Sam finished his scrambled eggs before speaking again.

"…So I can come right?" Sam groaned and rolled his eyes as Dean smiled widely knowing he'd get his way.

Castiel glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table as he finished toweling off his hair. He tossed the damp towel over the door to dry as he reached for the rest of his clothes. He glanced at the clock once more before he heard the doorbell ring and his mom's cheery voice.

He took no more than a few steps towards the kitchen when he was knocked down by an overly energetic Sam and letting out a very unmanly yelp.

"Afternoon Cas! Listen don't get mad but I told him no, and he didn't listen. So even after he kept bugging and bugging and bugging I just decided to ignore him. He still didn't get the hint though and started following me around…" Castiel watched wide eyed as the boy sitting on top of him continued to energetically explain without really explaining. He slowly let his head fall back onto the floor as his new friend continued rambling on.

"Sam…" Sam continued on giving no indication that he even heard Castiel.

"Sam…" Castiel chuckled softly as the energetic boy kept waving his hands around and talking a mile a minute.

"… and even after I practically shoved him into a closet and locked him in there he still didn't take the hint! And then he went and practically broke the door down, which mom is going to be pissed about by the way, and then…"

"…Hey… uh Sam…" Castiel poked the kid in the stomach and watched as he didn't even pay attention to that and continued his story. Castiel sighed and tried to ignore his discomfort as he let his hands fall onto Sam's legs and relaxed as much as he could with the other boy sitting on top of his stomach. He still didn't understand why it was only Dean who he didn't feel uncomfortable with when he touched him.

He was going to try to gain the boy's attention again when he heard soft giggles and a throat clearing at the doorway. Sam seemed to notice someone else there also besides them as he finally stopped talking a mile a minute.

"Uh… didn't mean to interrupt… whatever you two are doing… we can come back…" Dean smirked and Evelyn giggled softly behind her hand again before he quickly closed the door on the two boys' protests.

"Wait Dean this isn't…" Castiel started at the same time as Sam started his own protestations.

"There's nothing going…" Sam and Castiel both quieted at the shut door before Sam looked down at his position and felt his face flush.

"Oh geez… sorry Cas I uh… yeah…" Sam mumbled as he quickly stood up and reached out a helping hand to the boy on the floor.

"It's fine… um sooo…" Castiel straightened his clothes once he was hauled onto his feet and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment before biting his lip and looking up at Sam.

"So uh… lot of rambling going on but you never actually got to the point, what was it?"

"Oh right! Yeah so basically no matter how much I ignored Dean he uh… well he tagged along as you can see now…" Sam offered a sympathetic dimpled smiled as he pulled the door open and motioned for them to head out into the kitchen. Castiel nodded and followed the slightly taller boy.

He felt his cheeks flush brightly when they stepped into the kitchen and Dean let out a loud wolf whistle. He glanced over in time to see Sam give his brother the finger with bright red cheeks as well.

Castiel shook his head and went over to give his mom a hug. He felt his face form into a grimace as she started running her fingers through his hair

"Oh sweetheart, couldn't you have dried your hair better? It's going to be an absolute mess later on" Evelyn stated as she tried to fix her sons' hair.

"Mooom… it's fine..." Castiel mumbled as he gently pulled her hands away and gave her another quick hug before heading over to quickly wash his hands and then back to where the two boys were watching with amused grins.

Castiel frowned and stuck his tongue out at them as he made his way to the front door.

"Be careful boys!" Evelyn called out after the boys.

Dean waved back at Evelyn and followed Sam and Cas as they started walking towards downtown. He quickly shoved his way between the two and threw his arms around both.

"Heya Cas! Hope you don't mind. Sammy said it'd be fine if I tagged along." He grunted softly as Sam elbowed him.

"Did not, you invited yourself. Jerk." Castiel smiled at the two brothers and turned a wide grin to the oldest.

"Hello Dean…" Dean felt his heart melt at the sight of his new friends smile and felt his own wide smile form.

"Hey Cas…"

"Oh gross…" Sam mumbled as he watched the two boys interact.

Dean turned back to his brother and made a face before dropping his arms and walking ahead of both boys.

"So, to your left you'll see… houses… and to the right more houses!" Dean smiled widely as Castiel chuckled softly.

"Dean we're not even in town yet." Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes at his brothers' antics. He yawned slightly and stretched. He knew it was going to be a long tour of the town if his brother decided he'd be flirting with their new friend every second of it.

It was two hours after they started the tour and Sam was exhausted. Having to spend the entire time giving a tour while trying to speak over your older brother got real old after the first five minutes. It was also rather uncomfortable to have to constantly be subjected to what Charlie would call "lovey-dovey heart eyes" between his new friend and his older brother. He had tried to ignore it as much as he could and no matter how many times he had elbowed his brother or cleared his throat, neither boy would pay attention.

So after finally sitting in the shade of the nearest park with their waters that they bought at the gas station across the street, Sam was thrilled to see Charlie and the others walking towards them with baseball equipment. He cast a glance at Dean and Castiel and choked on his water at the look of pure terror that came over his new friends face at the sight of the equipment.

"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?" Dean smiled as Charlie plopped herself down on top of Sam's outstretched legs and let herself fall back so she was laying completely over both his and Sam's laps.

"What do you mean what are we doing here… We got a mess- ow! I mean uhhh… well what else would we all be doing here with baseball equipment Dean?" Charlie smiled widely as she rubbed her leg where Sam had pinched her.

Dean looked between her and Sam before looking up at his other friends suspiciously.

"Uh huh… and that was weird at all… Did Sammy call you guys?" Dean let his gaze land on Benny who shrugged and reached out a hand to help Dean up.

"Don't know, don't really care. Are we gonna play or not?" Benny smiled widely as he dropped the two baseball bats he was carrying along with the backpack that was hanging off his shoulder. No one seemed to pay any attention to Sam and Charlie wrestling in the grass until they heard a groan.

"HAH, QUEEN CHARLIE IS VICTORIOUS!" Charlie shouted as she stood up and raised her hands into the air in celebration.

Castiel watched in pity along with the others as Sam rolled around on the ground red-faced and groaning.

"Queen Charlie is a cheater, darling." Anna smiled widely as she shook her head at her friends' pout.

"I did not cheat!" Charlie proclaimed as she stomped her foot like a five-year-old which Benny and the others found cute.

"Uh… you kneed the boy in the nuts, I'd count that as cheating Char" Jo lightly patted her friends arms as she walked over to Sam and held out a hand to help the boy up.

Charlie shrugged and walked backwards slowly away from the group who had turned their attention back to the injured boy who was taking his time getting up. Castiel quirked his eyebrow when he met Charlie's eyes and she made shushing motions to him. He watched as she eyed up Benny and decided it'd be best to get out of the way of any possible danger, so he quickly and efficiently stepped back just in time to hear Charlie roar and take off at a sprint in their direction again. Dean, Jo, Anna and Sam barely had time to see the 115pound redhead flying towards them before they launched themselves out of the way of her swinging limbs.

"JESUS CHARLIE WHAT THE HELL?!" Benny exclaimed as he quickly found balance and reached back to hold onto Charlies legs, that quickly made their way around his waist tightly.

"What? Queen Charlie needed a horse…" Charlie stated rather innocently while the others chuckled at her antics and Benny frowned.

"Well why me? Why not Dean?" Benny pouted and walked towards Dean getting ready to try to get close enough for the girl to climb onto the other boy. He groaned when he felt the arms and legs tighten around him.

"No! Dean isn't as buff as you! You're comfier… no offense Dean" Dean rolled his eyes and shrugged as he turned back to his brother.

"You alright Sammy?" Sam stood up straight and nodded as he shot a glare towards Charlie who simply smiled and waved from her new perch.

"Anyways, you guys up for a game of baseball?" Jo questioned as she stretched and grabbed some of the equipment and headed towards the field without waiting for the others to respond. Dean looked around and shrugged as he followed along, Castiel bit his lip and hesitantly followed after the group.

"How are you guys supposed to play if you don't have enough people for two teams?" Castiel asked confused as he reached the group.

"Oh well see what we do is I guess you could call it practice?" Anna answered a bit unsurely. Benny nodded as he quickly dropped Charlie on her butt.

"Yeah see one of us pitches the ball, the other hits it and runs like normally. Whoever isn't stuck on a base is usually out in the field ready to catch the ball. We each take turns. It's confusing at first but you'll get the hang of it." Benny smiled as he took a drink of water from Dean's bottle.

"Oh… no I don't really know how to play… or hit a ball before…or have ever played for that matter, you all go on and have fun." Castiel smiled as he waved the others to the field.

"Oh no you don't" Dean said as he grabbed a baseball bat and Castiel's arm and pulled him along before positioning him and placing his hands where they needed to go.

"Dean… no I don't know how to do this…" Castiel pleaded as he tried to hand him back the bat.

Dean shook his head and quickly moved to the pitcher's mound as the others went out into the field by the bases. Sam shot a reassuring smile at Cas and shrugged.

"No time like the present to learn then." Sam said before he turned towards the others and shouted so he can be heard.

"Hey it's Cas' first time! We're gonna forego strikes and stuff for the time being!" He smiled at the others' nods and thumbs up before smiling at Cas one last time and giving him a thumbs up.

"I'll go easy Cas just try to hit it. Keep your eye on the ball" Cas sighed and nodded reluctantly before getting into position like Dean had showed him.

Dean smiled brightly at the fact that Cas was going to try and gently tossed the ball to the boy. He couldn't help the slight chuckle as Cas just stood there, didn't even swing. Sam smiled and ran up to get the ball and throw it back to Dean. He figured Cas might miss a few times so decided to stay behind him to get the ball. After a few more throws where Castiel didn't even make a move to swing Dean rubbed the back of his neck and stood up straight.

"Cas… Buddy it's not gonna bite you, just try to hit it… try to swing at least..." Dean called out.

"I know… I'm just trying to calculate where it's going to be so I can try to hit it." Cas flushed brightly and lowered his eyes to the ground in front of him as he heard Jo snort and Benny start laughing.

Dean glared at both of them before giving a small head shake and running up to Cas.

"Don't get me wrong, that's really adorable but you gotta just get out of your head Cas. Watch the ball, and swing. Don't think. Feel it." Dean smiled widely as Castiel nodded and started mumbling 'feel it' under his breath.

Dean ran back to the pitcher's mound and got ready.

"Just feel it Cas." Dean gently tossed the ball again and watched as Castiel finally swung but missed completely.

Sam smiled at his friends try and tossed the ball back to his brother. Dean tossed it a couple more times and watched as Castiel tried and missed both times.

"Just feel it Cas, you got this." Dean encouraged before tossing it once more.

"Yeah… I'm feeling really stupid Dean!" Castiel yelled back exasperated and sighed loudly as he missed the ball again. Dean chuckled softly and heard the others do the same before shaking his head and walking up to Cas.

"Alright, you tried Cas, thank you for that. I'll let you off the hook this time, we're gonna practice this again one day. For now, I'll let you sit this one out." Dean patted his arm lightly and let it linger. He couldn't help laugh at the relieved sigh as Castiel shoved the baseball bat at him.

"Oh thank God." Castiel smiled widely and went to go sit in the shade.

Dean shook his head and handed his brother the bat.

"He'll get it one day. I'm sure of it." Dean smiled again at Castiel and felt his smile widen when Castiel returned it.

"OH GOD! I see why Sam message us now! Can we get on with the game?!" Jo hollered from beside Benny as the others chuckled at Cas and Dean's flushed faces. Dean ran back to his spot as Sam got into position. Castiel watched as they all played for a few hours, every now and then getting overly excited and cheering someone on when they hit the ball too far out.

Dean glanced over to a cheering Castiel from third base, and felt his heart skip a beat at the sight in front of him. He was happy Castiel felt comfortable enough to be as loud as he was. It was a much better sight than what he was the day before at school. Dean kept watching Castiel smile and vowed to himself that day, that he would give that boy anything he wanted and do anything he wanted if it meant that he'd keep smiling that way.


End file.
